One of four people accused of operating a multistate sex-trafficking-ring out of California that preyed on foreign-born women to work as prostitutes in Minnesota and elsewhere has admitted to her role in the criminal operation.

After reaching a deal with prosecutors in the case, Fangyao Wu, 23, of Irvine, Calif., pleaded guilty Thursday in Washington County District Court to one felony count of racketeering, court records say.

Wu previously faced six felonies, including two charges of aiding and abetting the sex-trafficking of an individual.

As part of her agreement with the state, Wu is expected to receive a stayed jail sentence for her conviction in exchange for her cooperation with authorities on the criminal cases still pending against the three others charged in the bust, according to Dennis Gerhardstein, spokesman for the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office.

Authorities in Ramsey and Washington counties announced criminal charges in March against four defendants in what one official described as the most “sophisticated” sex-trafficking operation he’s seen. (Sarah Horner / Pioneer Press)

Ramsey and Washington counties headed up the investigation.

Wu also agreed to forfeit the more than $700,000 she earned in proceeds from the sex-trafficking scheme, which authorities in Washington and Ramsey counties described as highly sophisticated when announcing charges in March.

Wu’s attorney, Eric Thole, said the plea deal’s exclusion of any jail time for his client speaks to her limited role in the trafficking operation.

“She was far less culpable than the others and the county attorney recognized that,” Thole said. “She accepts responsibility for her part and wants to move on.”

County attorneys in both Washington and Ramsey said they expect other defendants charged in the case to follow suit.

Two of the others charged, including Wu’s mother, Hong Jing, 48, and Dongzhou Jiang, 29, are expected to enter guilty pleas in their cases in late August, Gerhardstein said.

It was not clear whether the fourth defendant, Sophia Wang Navas, also of Irvine, Calif., also will seek a plea deal.

In a joint statement released Thursday, Ramsey and Washington county prosecutors said Wu’s plea deal is an important first step.

“While this massive sex-trafficking case is still ongoing with regard to other defendants, we are pleased with (the) guilty plea of one of the defendants,” the statement read. “Jointly, both Washington and Ramsey County will continue to pursue justice in this case and others as we are working in partnership to tackle this problem regionally. In addition, we are doubling our efforts to jointly engage the public to become more aware and to take steps to end the buying and selling of women and girls for sex in our communities.”

The operation ran from February of 2015 until February of 2017 and involved nearly 20,000 advertisements for sexual services placed on Backpage.com, charges say.

In describing the ring last winter, Washington County Attorney Pete Orput pointed to a bust made at a Cottage Grove home in February to serve as an example of how it worked. He said enforcement found little more than two mattresses inside the townhome along with “a line of men” waiting to have sex with three women found inside the home.

Jing and Navas are suspected of placing the ads and communicating with clients.

Jiang, of Blaine, coordinated the logistics of the operation in the Minnesota and North Dakota, finding establishments and private homes for the women to work out of and collecting the money paid to them by clients, the complaint said.

Jiang told officers that the women, who ranged in age from 32 to 45, were forced to earn at least $800 a day or risk getting fired, authorities say. He also said they had to pay housing fees, transportation costs and for their own food.

Most of the women were foreign born, mainly Chinese or Korean nationals. Locally, they served clients across the Twin Cities, including Oakdale, Cottage Grove, St. Paul, Blaine, Maplewood and St. Louis Park.

Jiang typically rotated the women’s location every two weeks, he told police, according to the complaint. He admitted that women were sometimes raped, beaten and robbed by clients.

He referred to the incidents as “just part of the business,” the complaint said.

Investigators say they discovering tens of thousands of dollars in traffickers’ bank accounts. One account contained more than $850,000.

None of the trafficked women initially identified by investigators in the case wanted help or services, authorities say. Orput added that all of the women involved were isolated, spoke little to no English and were fully dependent upon the traffickers. He also said they may have feared deportation for going against their traffickers.

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